The plastics industry is one of the largest industries in the world, and the third largest manufacturing industry in the United States. In the U.S. alone, the plastics industry employs more than 885,000 people and creates more than $380 billion in annual revenue. One of the largest sectors of the plastics manufacturing industry is the food container manufacturing sector. Food containers comprised of plastics can take many forms, including bottles, cups, bowls, plates, jugs, boxes, etc. There is further a large variety of ways to manufacture and shape the various plastic food containers.
A common type of food container, such as a ketchup container, includes a main housing or compartment that holds the ketchup, a removable seal that covers the top of the main housing to seal in the ketchup, and a threaded top with a flip cap that is threaded on top of the seal. A wide array of foods, both solids and in liquid form, are sold using this common food container. One of the problems associated with this type of container, however, is the expense associated with manufacturing the item. The manufacturing of the aforementioned conventional food container includes a process for forming the main housing, a separate process for placing the seal on the main housing and yet another process for both manufacturing the threaded top and placing the top on the main housing. It is well known that each process undertaken during the manufacturing of a plastic product increases the time, materials, and expense associated with the manufacturing.
Another problem associated with the aforementioned conventional food container is its lack of efficiency in use. Typically, when a user purchases the aforementioned food container, such as a ketchup container, the user must unthread the top from the main housing, remove the removable seal with his hands, and then replace the threaded top onto the main housing, so that the user may utilize the ketchup container. This can be tedious and time consuming for consumers to perform. Furthermore, the aforementioned process—which is typically only performed once in the life cycle of the food container—requires threading to be present on the threaded top, as well as the main housing. Considering that the threading process is only performed once in the life cycle of the food container, the time and effort to include the threading feature in the food container can be considered wasteful.
From the foregoing, it is apparent that there exists a definite need for a container that can be manufactured in a more efficient manner and in such a way as to meet the desires of consumers.